The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, joined by the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota peoples and an impressive number of friends and supporters, has launched a strong non-violent protest against the building of an oil pipeline across their ancestral lands. The project, known as the Dakota Access Pipeline, would cross under the Missouri River just upstream from the northern boundary of the tribe’s reservation lands.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, joined by the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota peoples and an impressive number of friends and supporters, has launched a strong non-violent protest against the building of an oil pipeline across their ancestral lands. The project, known as the Dakota Access Pipeline, would cross under the Missouri River just upstream from the northern boundary of the tribe’s reservation lands.
In his article “Standing with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe”, FCNL’s Jose Aguto reports that the 1,168-mile-long, $3.78 billion pipeline is expected to transport up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day across four states, to Illinois. The pipeline and its construction would threaten the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s main source of drinking and irrigation water, as well as their sacred sites and burial grounds.
The pipeline was being constructed under a permit approved by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed for a court action to halt the project until appropriate consultation could occur and an alternative route could be sought.
The tribe’s request was denied, and the construction company was allowed to proceed. Then, in an unexpected development, three federal agencies, including the Army Corps of Engineers, issued a joint statement declaring that construction would not go forward on any land controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers within 20 miles of the disputed area, until appropriate consultation with the tribes could occur. The statement also called on the company to halt construction on privately owned lands within that 20-mile area. Supporters of the tribe are now communicating with the developers, Energy Transfer Partners, to encourage their voluntary participation in a consultative process.
Rep. Grijalva (AZ-3), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Rep. Raul Ruiz (CA-36), ranking member of the Indian, Insular, and Alaska Native Affairs subcommittee recently visited the Standing Rock Sioux protest. Upon their return to Washington, they called for (1) an oversight hearing on tribal consultation and (2) a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on federal programs and policies that insure the protection of health and environment in tribal communities.
This Just In
On September 26, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Chairman Dave Archambault II and members of the Standing Rock Youth Council are joining other tribal leaders from across the country in the President’s national tribal conference. Acknowledging that President Obama’s administration has called a temporary halt to the pipe line, Chairman Archambault is pressing for a more specific and long-lasting outcome.
